The Timeline Paradox
by ObliviousZombie
Summary: The Doctor gets pulled into a plan that goes against almost everything he believes. Will he be able to get out in time, before the inevitable happens?
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor sat up for the eighth night in a row. He hurled his pillow across the room, burying his head in his hands. But he still couldn't get the image out of his head. The image of Amy and Rory, both smiling, before the Angel took them. That image had haunted his dreams. He couldn't remember the last time since the graveyard that he hadn't woken up covered in sweat. After a few minutes of lying down, the Doctor decided he wasn't getting any more sleep. "Oh well" thought the Doctor, "looks like another night wondering the halls."

The Doctor found himself in the control room. "Well, that's odd. I don't remember walking this way" He said to no one in particular. On a whim, he strode towards the doors. He had managed to maneuver the TARDIS into a spot perfect for viewing the Milky Way. With a resigned sigh, he pulled open the TARDIS doors.

Then quickly slammed them shut. It's not possible, he thought. Simply illogical that that was there. "Where the bloody hell are we?" He almost shouted at the console. He grabbed the monitor screen, whipping it around to face him, and was surprised to see the screen completely blank, except for 3 words: YOU ARE NEEDED.

The Doctor cautiously opened the doors again, staring at the wall that had somehow appeared in front of his TARDIS. He stared at the writing on it, until it finally got through to him. Written on the wall in ancient Gallifrayen, the kind the Doctor had seen in books dating back to the building of Gallifray itself, was "TARDIS Docking Bay. Watch Your Step"


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor walked down the hall as impossible thoughts kept on creeping into his head. He recognized the wall décor; it was the drab, functional dull gray that matched the outside. Before he had accidently got the outside stuck on that police box, of course. He dropped into a crouch at the sound of voices.

"All I'm saying is that they wouldn't put a light there unless it served some function."

"And what if the function is to gather dust?"

"Then it wouldn't make sense to have it, and why would it randomly light up?"

"You have to remember, this 'ship' is organic; not everything has to have a point. Although you have me at the lighting up part, maybe the ship's receiving a transmission?"

The Doctor listened intently to the two voices, trying to discern what they were talking about. Unexpectedly, the Doctor felt something pressing into the back of his neck. "What if the light informs you that you have an uninvited guest on board?" Called out an apathetic voice from behind the Doctor.

"That's impossible Frank. For one, how would he get on board?"

Frank pushed the Doctor into the room using what the Doctor could only hope wasn't a gun to push him. "Maybe you should ask him that" Frank stated, still sounding bored. The Doctor quickly studied the two men in the room. One had a mess of white hair on top of his head. The Doctor put him around 60. The other appeared to be mid-20's, with close-cropped hair. The Doctor decided that he was probably the one questioning the function of the light. They seemed to be waiting for him to explain himself.

"Truly sorry about that. Impossibility seems to be my specialty. I'm the Doctor." He slowly lowered his arms, and was rewarded with increased pressure from the hoping-it's-not-a-gun on his neck.

"Well, while we're on introductions, I'm James, and this is Nathan." The white-haired man motioned to himself and the other man as he spoke. "And as you probably heard, the man holding the gun to your neck is Frank. He has slight trust issues. I blame it on raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip ones."

Frank growled angrily at that last part. The Doctor made a mental note to never make raisin cookies. "So, James, you wouldn't mind telling me where I am? Or perhaps when?"

" You're on a ship called the TARDIS, which is capable of traveling through time and space. As for when-"

"You can't just go around telling every impossible thing what they're on James! What if he works for Them? Now they could know how we're getting around!" Frank said. The air was thick with hostility. The Doctor saw something rise behind Nathan's shoulder. He had a sudden realization as to what species Nathan was. The Doctor abruptly had a flashback to the Time War. He was with a team of Sarain assassins. The Sarains were a race very similar to Time Lords in appearances, except for a tail that they can control with extreme precision. Their tails were able to launch a projectile coated in poison. It took them only hours to grow another projectile in their tails. The Doctor and the Sarains had been tasked with taking over a key base to the Has-Been King's defenses. The Doctor had never witnessed such ruthless efficiency. Sadly, the Daleks had destroyed the Sarain home world while they were away. The 4 living Sarains were never seen again after that day.

The Doctor was abruptly jolted back to the present with a slap. He looked around in confusion. He was surprised to see James standing over him. "You okay? Your eyes glazed over, then you collapsed."

"Oh, I'm fine. So, about the TARDIS," he noticed worryingly as Frank reached towards something that looked like the ancient Time Lord weapons he had seen as a kid "I think you better follow me to the docking bay" The Doctor, not wanting to hear any protests, immediately got up and strode towards the docking bay.

"This thing has a docking bay?" inquired Nathan to no one in particular.


	3. Chapter 3

"Darn." The Doctor said under his breath.

"What's wrong? This-" James motioned at the blue box "is your ship? It seems a little…not."

"It's a TARDIS also. It got stuck on this back in the 1900s. I just haven't had the heart to change it. What's wrong is if it weren't here, then I would simply be going insane."

"Frank, if you wouldn't mind, point your gun at him again." Frank complied. "Now that I know the TARDIS isn't playing tricks on us, I would like a name. And how you know about the Martyr."

Frank chambered another bullet in his gun. He seemed to be slipping into that mask of boredom again. "Alright" said the Doctor "I have no ide-" The Doctor's statement was cut short by a powerful flashback. It was the Master and him, barely even 13 years old. They were so innocent, so oblivious as to what their futures held. They were on a class trip to the local museum. The very same one he would steal the TARDIS from years later.

"C'mon! I wanna check out the Nathionean artifacts!" The young Master called out to the young Doctor. The Doctor smiled impishly and darted after him. "Whoa. Can you imagine being one of the pilots of this?" The Master stood in awe of the TARDIS in front of him. The Master touched it with a shaking hand. The Doctor reached out to do the same. Before either of them could react, the large steel doors swung open. Both the Master's and Doctor's jaws reached a new low.

Before either could even react, they were both airborne by their shirt collars. They heard the franticly loud voice of their teacher, but the words weren't registering for the Doctor. All he could think of was how it had responded to him. He couldn't tear his eyes off of it as he was dragged out of the room. He even managed to catch a glance at the control room before he was forced from the room.

It was the same roof in the control room when he came to. Of course, he thought, why shouldn't it? "I have one simple question." The Doctor said. He was surrounded by the 3 men. "When are we?"

He felt something stir inside of him when he saw a look of panic cross Nathan's face. "Er, we don't exactly know. We're fairly sure on the where, the when's still a little fuzzy." Nathan showed the Doctor the monitor in the control room. There was static covering the screen.

"Rightyo then" The Doctor said, hopping to his feet. He slipped into the voice he always used with his companions. "I don't know how, some major mistake in the wibbly-wobbly timey whimy ball of stuff no doubt, that has caused my TARDIS to slip into the Time Lock around Gallifray and into…itself. Only not itself, a younger version of itself. Before I stole it. James, don't ask, the Time Lock's way after your time. And yes Frank I did steal my TARDIS, but no one was using it at the time." The Doctor was walking around the control console, sonicing random levers and buttons to see if he could get rid of that static. The fact that they hadn't simply stepped outside the TARDIS to see what time it was meant that they were either at a spot where a planet would be forming soon, or they were in enemy territory and could get in a lot of trouble if they were caught in the wrong time. The Doctor was putting money on the latter. "So, does anyone have any idea why my TARDIS would be able to defy nearly every law of the natural world and circumvent a Time Lock AND get inside its own space?"

James looked confused. "You mean, Doctor, that you honestly come from a time where they don't even remember some of the most basic laws of the organic TARDIS? You see, a TARDIS is capable of materializing inside its own timeline as long as it wouldn't create an inescapable paradox."

"I've run into one of those, they're not as inescapable as everyone believes. You just need to make sure your companions don't start flirting with their future selves. And the wibbly lever. Always use the wibbly lever." The Doctor didn't even bother looking at their faces; he was positive every one of them was confused. The Doctor smiled slyly. Oh how much he missed having people to mess with.

"Back to my point. As long as you don't move your TARDIS off that landing pad, you're free to go anywhere." James was watching the Doctor with more of an interest now. Whatever he was doing seemed to be working.

"Annd…Ah-ha! That should fix your time problem. Or dislodge us from this time and send us floating through time forever." The Doctor stared at the screen. Slowly, the static cleared. "Nathan, congratulations. You're currently about to walk on the world that your species originally came from." The Doctor stepped through the TARDIS doors.

"Do you really think it's him? Do you honestly think the one so key to the end could be the one that helps us avoid it?" James turned to see Frank talking to him. Frank was wearing his look of apathy that he seems to use too often.

Well, Frank, at least it's not the Master himself. Better the sacrificed than the sacrificer."

"As long as he doesn't know what happens. Or what will happen. Damn I hate time travel."

James smiled. It was the first time he had actually smiled in quite a while. "Let's just see what he does next. Fellow's quite ADHD." James walked wistfully towards the TARDIS doors. Frank, after a few moments of silent thoughts, pulled out a phone. He hit the first speed dial with shaking fingers.

"Sir? It's definitely him. What should I do?"

A voice, one that sounded like eternity rolled into a single second, came through. "Follow him, and be prepared. You might have to…remind him of why he still fights. Of why, after all of this time, he still doesn't just lie down and take his fate."


End file.
